Chinook Health

First,
please bear with me, as I'm not a vet, a geneticist, nor a health
expert in
any way. The information here is strictly based on my own experience
with my own dogs. For complete and accurate information, you'll want to
talk with more knowledgeable people, such as a veterinarian.
I've
put many links on health, genetics, and related topics in the For More
Information section of this website.

In
general
the Chinook is a very healthy breed compared to most other breeds. We're lucky in
that respect. A health survey done in the late 1990s surmised that this
is because the early selection was done based on working ability and
not on the dog's looks alone. Plus the Chinook is a very natural breed.
Not only is it natural in that we don't fool around with cropping any
ears, docking tails, or spending hours foofing their coats but
they are natural in that they have the general phenotype of the generic
dog that evolved in the wild -- brown with pricked or semi pricked ears
and a tail that is carried up with a partial curve when the dog is
excited. (This same look is seen in the once wild Carolina Dog, a breed
that looks very similar to the Chinook.) It is my opinion that this
natural, uncorrupted physique helps to keep them a healthier breed.

However all dogs, both pure and random bred, have some genetic health
issues that can crop up. With Chinooks we tend to focus primarily on
three areas: hips, eyes, and seizures. Other issues crop up on a
limited basis. If you do a survey of every Chinook alive today, you're
sure to find a few unique health problems that I don't discuss here but
that is true of every population of every species. The topics covered
below are those that have cropped up in more than one Chinook of the
Rain Mountain line.

Again, I want to emphasize that the Chinook is on average a very
healthy breed. If you look at the work of George Padgett, DVM, the
acknowledged expert on genetic health issues in dogs, he lists the
various problems seen by each breed in his book Control
of Canine Genetic Diseases. Compared to all the
other breeds in the world, the Chinook has some of the fewest genetic
health problems of any. Don't think that mixed breeds are more healthy
than purebreds because they are not. With purebred dogs from
known pedigrees, we simply have far more data on what genes they carry
and what problems they are prone to. With mutts we just don't know
unless the problem is actually expressed. Remember that just because a
dog carries the genes for something, it may not be expressed. In fact,
Dr. Padgett hypothesizes that every purebred dog carries six lethal
genes that aren't expressed and every mutt carries twelve!

I am sometimes asked why I put this information up on the Rain Mountain
website. After all, it might scare away someone who was
thinking of getting a Chinook but sees this and decides not to. My
opinion is that is the kind of person that I don't want to have one of
my puppies. After all, what would happen if the pup had bad hips? Would
they send the dog back to me? After all, I do give a lifetime guarantee
on any and all genetic health concerns. I think it's
important for people to know before
they buy a pup what potential health problems could occur. These
conditions discussed below are all the exception and not the rule. It
is definitely NOT the case theat every Chinook has bad hips, cataracts,
and neurologic problems. But if a health problem
does crop up, the more information you have ahead of time, the better
prepared you'll be.

Hips &
OFA X-Rays

All dogs, especially those of medium to large size, can have hip
problems, typically called hip dysplasia. What this means is that the
femur is not perfectly seated in
the hip socket. Experts think that the problem is both genetic
transmitted and environmentally influenced. But it is polygenetic
-- not controlled by
a single set of genes -- which makes it difficult to eliminate from our
breeding stock.

To minimize the possibility of hip problems, all our breeding stock has
hips x-rayed at least once and the x-rays submitted to the Orthopedic
Foundation
for Animals for rating. OFA has three board certified
veterinary
radiologists look over the x-rays and rate them. Excellent, Good, and
Fair are considered passing with Borderline, Mild, Moderate, and Severe
considered not passing. The OFA website
has a great
deal of information on hip dysplasia, diagrams of what the various
ratings look like, and a search engine that allows you to look up the
hip rating of a given dog. For more information, this website
is the
best
source I've found.

Good
hips on left, dysplastic hips on right

Hips
don't get a
permanent rating until the dog is at least two years old so
that the growth plates are closed and the dog is physically
mature. (This is another reason you're asked to defer spaying or
neutering your dog until s/he is at least a year old so that the growth
plates have had time to close and the joints have developed normally.)
A "Preliminary" rating is available after a dog is four months
old but they are read by only one vet radiologist. I sometimes use
these to screen out dogs. Coping with a young bitch in season
or male in
love can be a challenge. Luckily I've only had one accidental breeding
over the years but having Preliminary x-rays and ratings helps in these
situations.

It's
hypothesized that a girl dog's hormones can influence hip
laxity, the looseness of the femur in the hip socket. So most breeders
will take female x-rays midway
between seasons. I've seen this
have a significant impact on the rating a dog receives once. A female I
bred
was x-rayed but went into season only a few days later. We were all
surprised when OFA said she didn't pass the review, as she was quite an
athletic dog. The x-ray was repeated three months later and the new
rating was OFA
Good, quite a change from the first rating. Maybe it's not absolute
proof but it's enough that I try to time hip x-rays on females.
But I've also x-rayed bitches a couple weeks before they went into season and they got stellar ratings.

Choosing
a vet that has experience doing these also is important. I'm
lucky that Dr. Dan has a practice that caters to breeders almost
exclusivesly. You need to have the dog permanently identified with a
microchip or tattoo before they are x-rayed and take your registration
number along. (You will also need the registration numbers of the sire
and dam for the OFA paperwork.) Some vets automatically knock dogs out
to do the x-ray but I prefer that my dogs not go under anesthesia
unless it's absolutely necessary so I use vets for OFA x-rays that
believe the same. If the dog is uncomfortable with being held on its
back on the x-ray table, it can be given a mild shot of valium or other
tranquilizer instead of being knocked out completely.

Hip
ratings can be influenced by environmental factors
as well as genetics. I keep this in
mind when raising pups. Contrary to what many dog food companies will
tell you, I don't keep young dogs on puppy formula for a whole year.
The mom dog gets fed puppy formula during the last couple weeks of her
pregnancy and while she is nursing
and the pups are started on it when they are weaned. But I transition
them to either Large Breed Puppy or Adult formula food shortly after
they go to their new homes or when they are about 10 weeks old. The
theory behind this is that the super nutrition of premium puppy
formulas can cause faster than
desired growth. This in turn can cause a lack of strength in
the hips and other joints. As far as feeding goes, the size of
your Chinook is genetically predetermined and
feeding it extra rich or large amountsof food won't make it a bigger
adult. It may cause the
pup to grow faster but the size of the adult will be the same. And
again, the faster growth rate can make the joints weaker. I like to see
young dogs (in fact, all dogs) kept very lean (not skinny, just lean)
so that
less stress is put on the joints and skeleton. When you run
your
hand over their ribs it should feel like the back of your hand -- you
can readily feel the bones with just a coating of skin. Almost all of
our suburban pets can stand to loose a few pounds.

Many
breeders will also use various vitamins and supplements during the
growing months to help encourage sound hips. I haven't had much
experience with this myself but am always willing to listen to new
ideas. Primarily I encourage people getting pups from me to use a good
quality
food, keep the pup lean, and give it a lot of exercise that is fun,
easy, and natural.

To
prevent damage to a young dog's skeleton, I don't encourage
excessive jumping. I don't worry about the natural Chinook jumping and bouncing they
do on their own but I don't have them competing in
agility or flyball until they are
over a year old or I've checked their hips. They can do any exercise
they want on their own, but I
don't push them. I also try to keep their exercise on dirt more than
asphalt or concrete, which is much easier to do now that we live in the
middle of nowhere and don't have any asphalt or concrete on our
property. They may start running with our sled team as
adolescents but they start running next to the team without being
actually being connected to the gangline and when they are first
connected, they aren't asked to run far or to pull too much
weight. As one year olds they start practicing weight pulling
but only as novices
with lighter loads.

OFA
offers the following guidelines for breeders to minimize hip dysplasia:

» Breed dogs with passing ratings to other dogs with passing ratings.

» Breed passing dogs that have ancestors who also were passing.

» Consider the littermates when you make your decisions and breed passing
dogs from litters with a low incidence of hip dysplasia among siblings.

» Select a sire that produces a low incidence of hip dysplasia.

Another
method for testing hips is PennHip. In this process the dog is
fully sedated for the x-rays and a number of shots are done with the
hip manipulated into various positions. The dog is rated on a number of
other factors in addition to
how the leg bone is seated in the hip socket. I don't know of Chinook
breeders relying solely on PennHip as a rating but some are
using it in conjunction with OFA ratings.

When looking at the hips of the dogs in a pedigree and making a
breeding decision, I also feel it's necessary to look at the hip
ratings
of a litter as a whole, not just the specific dogs I'm thinking of
breeding to each other. If I have a dog that rates OFA Good but all
it's littermates have failed, I'm probably going to be very careful
breeding it, if it's bred at all. I would feel more comfortable
breeding a dog that came from a litter where all of the siblings rated
OFA Fair than one where one pup was an Excellent and the rest failed.
In order to get this complete data on litters, I ask that everyone
getting a pup from me have it's hips x-rayed and certified through OFA,
even if the dog is spayed or neutered.

OFA considers dogs with ratings of Fair, Good and Excellent to be
"passing." They recommend that breeders look at
the dogs with Fair ratings equally with those that have Excellent
ratings. "Do not ignore the dog with a fair hip evaluation.
The dog is still within normal limits. For example; a dog with fair
hips but with a strong hip background and over 75% of its brothers and
sisters being normal is a good breeding prospect. A dog with excellent
hips, but with a weak family background and less than 75% of its
brothers and sisters being normal is a poor breeding prospect.

Eyes &
CERF Exams

Almost all breeds of dogs have occasional problems with genetic
eye defects, most specifically cataracts. Chinooks are lucky that they
have not been affected by other eye problems, such as PRA, that may
occur
in other breeds. All my breeding stock has their eyes checked by a
board
certified veterinary ophthalmologist prior to breeding. I've
been
very lucky with this to date and only have bred one dog (as far as I
know at least) that has
developed
cataracts. We use the Canine Eye Registration Foundation,
known
as CERF (and pronounced "surf") to record the status of our dogs'
eyes. You can get a lot more information on eye problems in
dogs
from the CERF website.

Cataracts in Chinooks can be classified as pinprick, indeterminate, or
diffuse. Pinprick is not a concern; many dogs will have these and
they do not affect whether the dog “passes” the eye screen or not.
Diffuse means that the cataract is spread across the eye and will most
likely affect vision in the long run. This is the overall cloudy look
that you will frequently see in older dogs. Yes, it's normal in an old
dog but we
don't want to breed dogs that have diffuse cataracts at a young age.

Indeterminate cataracts are the middle ground. Some of these are
serious and some are not. In this case you may see a dog that
is considered “Breeder's Option” as far as its eyes go. For example,
my male, Thunder had his eyes examined every year since he was a pup.
He had a small, nearly pinprick cataract on the outside edge of one
eye. It didn't change in the slightest over the years and none of his
offspring
to
date have had any signs of eye problems. But the diameter of this
cataract
puts it one increment out of the pinprick category into the
indeterminate
category. So he is considered Breeder's Option – it is my option to
decide
if his eyes are of high enough caliber for breeding or not. So I have
decided to go ahead and breed him though I'm careful to breed him only
to bitches that have no signs of any eye problems. And just as with the
hip health in the pedigrees of litters I breed, I disclose this to
anyone
that asks and in information that is sent out to people that are
interested
in using him for breeding or acquiring one of his offspring.

The eye exams also look for other heritable problems in
addition to
cataracts, such as retinal folds or corneal dystrophy. A more
complete list can be found on the CERF website in the section titled "CERF Categories."
If you explore the CERF website, you can probably find the most valid
and accurate info out there on the subject of eye problems in dogs.

Neurological
Disorders

The paroxysmal dyskinesias are a
group of rare movement disorders characterized by attacks of
hyperkinesis with intact consciousness

Unfortunately Chinooks can suffer from a mild seizure
like disorder.
Yes, it does occur in my lines. Yes, I'm doing everything possible to
eliminate it, as are other Chinook breeders I work with. The causes are
not known but genetics play a role. To the best that I can, I don't use
dogs that has had a seizure like event in my breeding program. But
because
of the nature of this beast, it is hard to screen for. Typically the
onset
may not be until the dog is three or more years old. It can also be
triggered by other factors. I have one female that was fine until she
was six years old. At that time she was hit by a car and suffered a
serious head injury. My vet cautioned me that she could seizure and she
did. Since she was
six years old, she had already been bred and had two litters. Luckily
only three of her offspring (out of fifteen total) have had any
seizures at all and only
one of those has them on a regular basis, about once every six months
to
a year. But that's still too many in my book. Again, I always
disclose
to anyone that asks, especially in the context of breeding decisions,
the
status of all the my dogs and those in their pedigrees that have had
these
seizure like events.

If you are talking to other Chinook breeders, be sure to ask them about
this disorder in their lines. It's a tough subject to talk about for
some reason. I don't use the term epilepsy, as I don't know for
sure if that is what Chinooks have. You'll hear some people say that
it's really hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). My opinion is that a
seizure
or seizure like event for ANY reason or cause needs to be revealed by
the breeder/owner and
tracked in health pedigrees and databasess.
Yes, some have occurred after head
injuries,
some may be food allergies, some are isolated incidents. But they are
still a neurological disorder and I would like to eliminate them from
Chinooks to the best of my ability.

Notice
that I don't call these "seizures." They are different and
far milder. The typical seizure like event in Chinooks
doesn't
show itself until the dog is one to three years old. The events are
usually mild. Usually what you will see is that the dog's leg
stiffen, they lie down, and tremble. They don't usually loose
consciousness or bladder/bowel control though may lick compulsively
during the episode. It will last
about five minutes, and then the dog will be back to its normal self as
if it never happened. They may want to take a long nap. The episodes
may
happen only once every six months to a year but some have them more
often, as much as weekly; these are the exception, most will have them
only occasionally. They may be triggered by the dog being startled or
over stimulated. But I have also seen a Chinook have one in her sleep.
For the normal mild
episode there is nothing you can do except comfort the dog. I stroke
and
talk to mine and maintain eye contact with them. Some people find that
giving the dog some honey will shorten the seizure. A vet
can't
do
anything
unless they see the seizure happenning. If it is severe, Valium can be
given to
lessen it. None of my Chinooks that suffering from this disorder have
ever
required medication as they have them so seldom. I do feed twice a day
though to minimize blood sugar fluctuations.

This subject is being actively being researched and if you'd like more
information, please ask and I will refer you to people that are
more knowledgeable than I am. Rain Mountain Chinooks is
participating in the Canine Epilepsy Project sponsored by the AKC
Canine
Health
Foundation. We're getting more and more infomation every
month on
this disorder in Chinooks. Dennis O'Brien, DVM, PhD ACVIM,
(Specialty of Neurology, University of Missouri, College of Veterinary
Medicine) is the lead reseearcher on this project and spoke at the 2005
Chinook National Specialty. He has written an article
entitled "Chinook
'Seizures'" which I encourage you to read.

These
are big names for a genetic condition that can affect young male
pups. When boys are born their testicles are still up inside the
abdomen and will descend as the pup grows up. Usually they have
descended by the time the pup is eight to ten weeks old.

In some cases the testicles will not descend fully, either one or both.
If one is retained, it is considered monorchidism and if both
are retained it is considered cryptorchidism. In pet quality pups this
is not a concern since the testicles are removed when the dog is
neutered. However it can cut short the show and breeding career of a
promising
pup if there isn't a matched set. (Dogs with no or only one testicle
are
disqualified from the show ring.)

Because there is the occurrence of this disorder in Chinooks we
frequently will place male pups where they will be kept intact until
we know at what age the testicles descend. Some Chinooks are very slow
about this and will be up to nine months old before they drop. That's
not ideal but we will sometimes give Mother Nature time to work her
magic
in the case where one has descended.

If the testicles are both retained in the abdomen, the dog will
be sterile even though he has all the urges that would go along with
being intact. The testicles are outside the abdomen because the heat
within it is too high for any sperm to be viable.

Allergies
and Skin Problems

Allergies are difficult to diagnose and pin down as to the
source. I have quite as few myself, including general
hayfever,
house dust and molds, dogs, and cats. Luckily they are mild
and
easily controlled with antihistamines. An allergy is
essentially
the body's immune system deciding that something totally harmless such
as tree pollen, is actually a deadly invader so the system goes into
high gear to kill off the invader though all that results is we are
miserable with runny noses, watery eyes, and sneezing. Okay,
enough about my allergies.

A few Chinook owners have told me of allergies that
their dogs
have. These fall into two categories: food and
subsequent
upset stomachs or other resulting in dry skin and possible hair loss or
dry skin. Of the dogs in my house, I've only had one with any
allergy sort of problem.

If your dog gets sick every time it eats something, then
it
probably does have either an allergy or some sort of intolerance to
that food. Heck, I have problems with dairy problems myself
so I
don't eat much of them. Here with my gang, they have never
met
the food they didn't like. Beef, turkey, lamb, chicken,
venison,
fish, and every other kind of meat you can think of are high on their
list. They get a varied diet which I think helps them to
tolerate
different foods without a problem. But I have heard of one or
two
owners that have Chinooks with beef intolerance. So where
gastrointestinal problems and food allergies, my only experience is
anecdotal.

As far as allergies that affect the skin, I have heard
of two
Chinooks that had this type of trouble. One has just recently
been diagnosed and I don't have many details yet. Another is
one
that seems to have quite a few health problems in addition to
allergies. I know that one or two other breeders are doing
research on allergies so if you'd like more information, I will direct
you to these folks.

As far as skin problems go, my only experience has been
with
Thunder and the lick granuloma, also known as a lick sore, that he had
for many years. As is typical, it started with a small cut on
the
inside of his left hock. As dogs do, he licked it to keep it
clean but he licked it so much that it never could heal
completely. The licking became compulsive. I tried
many
different approaches to clearing it up and all of them with no
success. He was too big for an e-collar as he could still
reach
around it to lick. I tried a neck brace that would keep him
from
turning but he was just too long necked for it. I tried a
basket
muzzle but hated that it made him look like a vicious dog. I
tried bandaging it. I tried putting just about everything
under
the sun on it to make it taste bad but nothing was bad enough to break
his licking habit. I tried treating him for allergies and it
didn't work. I tried treating him for obsessive - compulsive
behavior but the medications made him sleepy and lethargic so I had a
dog that slept all the time and I was concerned what the meds were
doing to his body in general. I tried a bunch of natural
treatments and never did find one that worked. And just to
fool
me, every now and then he would stop licking it of his own accord and
it would clear up for a while. In the end we declared a truce
that as long as it was smaller than a quarter and he didn't try to lick
other parts of his body excessively, I wouldn't screw around with
it. If I saw it get red, he would get antibiotics and some
ointment. He was better about it as long as life was
calm.
He also didn't like to be crated more than he had to so I had to be
prepared that if he was going to be crated for any reason, he was going
to lick. Mind you, he took frequent naps in the crates around
the
house every day but only with the doors open. And he was such
a
trustworthy dog that I rarely needed to crate him.

According to my vet and all the reading I have done,
this type
of skin problem is not really an allergy but instead is a neurological
problem. So far, I only know of one other Chinook that has a
lick
sore along the lines of Thunder's and this dog is one of his
nephews. None of his offspring have had the slightest skin
problems though one of his grand pups is one of the two Chinooks I
mentioned at the beginning of this section that has recently been
diagnosed with environmental allergies.

Hopefully I'll be able to rewrite this section in the
future
and put up more conclusive information. As of this time
though, I
just don't know a lot about allergies in Chinooks and my personal
experience is only with Thunder's lick sore as far as skin problems
go. Occasionally I will see a bit of dry skin on some of the
dogs, usually coinciding with them shedding, and I simply take care to
add more oil and fat to their food in some way, shape, or form.

Fetal
Edema

Luckily birth defects in Chinooks are rare.
Over the
years and many litters, I've seen a few and all of them are sad so you
may want to skip this section. Most of the birth defects I've
seen are one of a kind and are never seen again. The
exception to
this is fetal edema, also known as water puppies or walrus puppies.

Fetal edema is when a puppy in utero has fluid going in
--
blood, food from the mom dog, etc. -- but it can't get out.
This
typically happens in the last couple days of the pregnancy, possibly
even in just the last day or so. It can't be seen on
ultrasound
or x-ray other than you may see the spine of the pup be almost
perfectly straight rather than slightly curved (we typically x-ray the
bitch just a couple days before the pups are due so that we can see how
many there are and with a first time mom, make sure the size of the
heads will fit through the pelvic opening).

When
a bitch is in labor and labor suddenly seems to stop, we
may be dealing with a fetal edema pup that has put a halt to normal
labor. The pup is
probably twice the size of a normal pup and it is nearly impossible for
the bitch to pass it through the birth canal so a c-section is called
for. These pups die almost instantly even if they are born
alive. My vet is only working part time these days and
travels
quite a bit so
I check with him before I even do a breeding to see if he is going to
be in town when the pups are due. (He's a whiz with
c-sections
and can have the pups out and squealing within 12 minutes of the mom
dog going under anesthesia.) The last week of the pregnancy I
carefully monitor the mom dog's temperature as it will drop when labor
is ready to start. And if there is more than two hours
between
pups, I'm on the phone with the vet checking in, regardless of the day
of the week or time of day.

No one knows what causes this problem but luckily it is
usually only one pup out of a litter and if a c-section is done in a
timely fashion, all the other pups will survive successfully.
We
see it run in some famililes.

Health
Guarantees

I do the best I can to provide you with healthy, happy, and sound Rain
Mountain Chinook pups. I do provide a health guarantee in our sales
agreement. But I cannot promise you absolutes.